Whether you’re in a draining place of disappointment, feeling empty or as if you’re in a hard, bitter place with God, there is a light and hope for you, by His grace, that always shines!
Ecclesiastes is a great book of the Bible which understands these tired feelings, and though it’s written with expressions of the very same dull lens we may be uncomfortably seeing through, it has an overarching message that is of great healing, by meditation, for the believer!
Ecclesiastes 1:2 “…Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
Disappointment and God’s Sufficiency
Every human has a heart full of desire, whether good or bad. We are all disappointed when those desires go unmet, but it is a sad reflection as a Christian to see your heart chase after good and godly things and still remain ungranted. We of course live for His glory and should not idolize anything, but what if you are seeking His will, His kingdom come, and your labors and expectations are going unfulfilled? This can slowly eat at your motivation and you can find it hard to continue praying or having energy or enthusiasm to even want to try.
Despite the situation, it is motivating to know that God hears prayers within tears and of depleted hearts in these times. That He is good and has gracious and just plans, and that you can rest in His promises.
Sometimes we excite ourselves over things God may not have promised, and even unconsciously connect our joy with their happenings… In these times we should recall what it is that truly fulfills our heart or rather WHO has the power to. God is sufficient, because He is love and the maker of peace.
Ecclesiastes echoes the vanity of all pursuits outside of what God will uphold in the end times, and pulls our attention back to Him, saying fear Him. This is a fitting message because this is an appeal to serve your attention to what matters most.
Ecclesiastes 5:7 “in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God.”
God has always been the supplier of our needs, and He, Himself is with us! Unlike our fleeting passions, He will last forever! And He loves us! We can look to Him and build a relationship that will never end! We can enjoy His ever present voice of love.
Emptiness and God’s Fulfillment
So now… is everything truly empty? Well yes, and no. It depends on if God is with you. Even good things can feel utterly gross and disappointing if you do them without clarity that God has gone before you and sent you there, because deep down we know that God will burn all unfruitful deeds in fire.
The deeper you are in God’s will, the happier you will be! Even if all “hell” (evils) is raised against you, as your delight is in the Lord, and your soul will not rest in the places He is not, but He rests you. His delight becomes your delight, and places He has called you to grow from are unsettlingly void until you do.
If you’re aching because you feel like life has been rendered empty of all joy and meaning for you, turn to God. Set your attention on Him and don’t be deceived. See that He is living, and all that He has said DOES matter. And by His words He has called our entire universe into existence! Every fabric of life (from the mustard seed to the oceans, from conversations and our souls) is significant in Him.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Wounds from God and His healing
God hands us unpredictability to humble us who believe our hands hold everything together, and to also show that His hand is with us and can guide us into far greater wonders than the world could ever provide. It is both a demonstration of holiness and love, wrath and mercy.
It is a blessing to receive a wakeup call from the Lord, because then and there we behold His amazing Spirit and truth.
Ecclesiastes 7:14
“In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other,
So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.”
• Both His glory and our sanctification and salvation are God’s priority.
Ecclesiastes 7:2
“Better to go to the house of mourning
Than to go to the house of feasting,
For that is the end of all men;
And the living will take it to heart.”
Even if life does not look good, He is working it together for the good of His believing children. Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time….” So endure proudly, knowing the work that God does in us by Christ through the Holy Spirit is to found you upon His rock which will withstand forever. He is pressing you into a diamond of eternal value.
Believers are refined by hardship. We see spiritual truths much clearer by them. We see the necessity and power of God by them. Power that IS working in us to make us more like our Savior from this fallen world, Jesus Christ, as we believe God’s promises.
Heaven’s delights (life together with Him) are the true promised reward! We testify of this to those not yet awake; and also witness, believe and enjoy God showing this testimony to us (of His sacrificial, unconditional love) as our faith is enhanced as we see what Jesus has truly done for us (casting away evil and sin, proclaiming a virtuous, imperishable Kingdom) as we begin doing the same among others.
Your faith through trials will last by God’s faithful and present grace alone, and it will shine and spark a diamond in someone else He’s calling home, as they marvel at your steady hope in Him, the living God!
The lost will have their own opinions of your life, and even our flesh will be tempted to disbelieve, but opinions are meaningless, fear the Lord. He is good.
God allows the enemy to attempt sifting our faith, and this can be a painful process of spiritual warfare, but God does not allow evil to overcome. God knows that you will overcome the darkness because His light is in you and cannot be extinguished. Therefore, the greater your trial, the greater your crown and victory will be. Receive His peace of knowing you’ll pass through!